Leon Lai
Leon Lai Ming (born December 11, 1966) is a Chinese-born Hong Kong actor and Cantopop singer. He is dubbed one of the "Cantopop Four Heavenly Kings" of Hong Kong. He uses the stage name "Li Ming" or "Lai Ming" which literally means "dawn." Career Early years Lai initially worked as a salesperson for a mobile phone company. After being awarded second-runner-up in the 1986 5th New Talent Singing Awards, Lai received vocal coaching from Dai Si Zong (戴思聰). In the same year he also obtained an artist contract from Capital Artists. Lai did not release any albums for four years. As a result, his teacher, Dai, arranged to have him signed a contract with PolyGram, later known as Universal Music. Music In 1990, he released his first album "Leon" (which was released on July 6 of the same year) and subsequent album "相逢在雨中", both of these album that were released by PolyGram. His debut album went gold. After several years at Polygram, he then signed a new contract with Sony Music on March 23, 1998. Together with Jacky Cheung, Andy Lau and Aaron Kwok, Lai was among the four most popular male singers during the 1990s, when the media referred to them as Cantopop Four Heavenly Kings. In the early stages of his career, he mainly sang Cantopop, but due to the influence of producer Mark Lui, he expanded his repertoire to include popular electronic songs with compelling music videos. In 1990 he won his first 1990 Jade Solid Gold Top 10 Awards and 1990 RTHK Top 10 Gold Songs Awards. He also followed up to win the "Most Popular Male Singer" award in 1993 and 1995 for TVB Jade Solid Gold. In 1996, he collaborated with composer-producer Steve Barakatt on his album "Feel". Two years later in 1998, he became the first HK singer to reach the Top 10 K-pop chart with the song "After loving you". In 1999 he announced that he would no longer accept any more awards in Hong Kong. In 2002 he was selected to sing "Charged up", the 2002 FIFA World Cup theme song for the Greater China region. In 2004 he became the first Hong Kong singer to represent the territory at the first Asia Song Festival held in South Korea. Lai was selected to be the ambassador of the 6th Winter Asian Games to be held Changchun in 2007. He sang the Games' theme song and took part in the torch relay. He then joined Michael Wong and Janice Vidal held a three-day "Magic Live" charity concert at Star Hall, Hong Kong from 9 to 11 Nov 2008. Albums #Leon (July 6, 1990) #親近你 (Just Want to Be Close to You) (January 11, 1991) #是愛是緣 (It is Love, It is Destiny) (June 5, 1991) #我的感覺 (Personal Feeling) (November 19, 1991) #但願不只是朋友 (Hope We're Not Just Friends) (June 3, 1992) #傾城之最 (The Most Charming Person Compliation) (September 1992) #I Love You O.K. (December 1992) #我的另一半 (My Other Half) (March 1993) #夏日傾情 (Summer of Love) (June 1993) #夢幻古堡 (Chateau de Reve) (December 1993) #天地情緣 (Love Between Sky and Earth) (July 1994) #情緣 (Destined Love) (October 1994) #火舞艷陽 (Red Hot Fire Dance) (December 1994) Category:Singers Category:December births Category:1966 births